GM: Sam Tillis
Players: Adrienne Mueller, Dylan Arena, James Lawton, Sean Nittner, Sarah Terman, Matthew Fisher
System: Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition
This game had a lot of build up. While we felt like we were never quite putting the pieces together in New York, things were making a lot of sense in London. Here’s some things we know:
- Gavigan was the local leader of the Black Pharoah (Black Hands) cult and soon he would be summoning a servitor. During that summons he would be distracted and his magical defenses would be weakened.
- The machine parts are at the bottom of the Penhew Foundation, generally guarded but all of the cult members will be going to the ceremony at the Misr House, giving us a window of opportunity.
- The parts are being manufactured by Henson Manufacturing in Derby.
Here’s some things we believe, but don’t know for sure:
- The Black Pharaoh cult are going to build a flying machine that will open a Gate (TM) during the next solar eclipse. The machine parts, the services to elder gods, the Gate that Michael Shipley almost created, and the general culty behavior was all leading up to this.
- The Yith, according to the Pnakotic Manuscripts are one of the (many) precursor races, possibly known as the sorcerers, who—upon realizing their own destruction was imminent—removed themselves from time. We believed (okay, Catherine believed) that being outside of time could help us stop the cultists from achieving their goals.
There’s more, but those were enough to give us a strong direction… the Misr House. But first, prep!
Downtime
Continuing from the downtime last session:
- Iris spend her time practicing marksmanship. All the pressure would be on her to take the shot that will kill Edward Gavigan.
- Colby joined her and practiced with his recently acquired Tommy Gun.
- Reggie followed some leads from Catherine’s old quartermaster to find veterans that were willing to part with some explosives. In an uncanny bit of luck (which we’d have a lot more of later in the session), he procured 11 pipe bombs and 11 grenades!
- Amos tended to Michael and Miles who weren’t exactly the best flat mates. Michael is meticulous, tidy, and obsessed with order. Miles is a messy artist afraid of his own shadow.
- Francois went back to the Book of Eibon, studied negatives in his darkroom to grasp it’s strange reality, but still could not comprehend the spell. It’s so close as to be maddening. Next time surely.
- Catherine set her clocks to run a different times and in different phases, passing time slower and faster, chiming discordantly, keeping her mind both in and out of focus, and with the help of the help from Amos’s advice on abstracting the polynomials, creating proofs and localized time discrepancies, and theorizing a singularity that would unify them, she learned the spell. Now she just had to try and cast it!
Making Magic Happen
The impossible calculations in her head, with plenty of encouragement from Amos (and others, but mostly Amos), Catherine attempted to cast a spell to Contact the Observers.
Mechanics talk for a second. Call of Cthulhu is nothing if not punishing to investigators as they attempt to unravel the mysteries of the cosmos. Reading books is dangerous. Leaning spells is hard. But casting them… wow, this was new for me. The first time you cast a spell you have to make a Hard Power Roll. If it’s failed the spell is lost and must be relearned. You can push yourself, but if you fail that roll as well, the spell is coast but all of its costs are multiplied by a d6 result. This particular spell costs 4 Magic Points and 1d3 sanity. Multiply both of those by a d6 and that can get very dangerous…which is exactly what I did.
Catherine could tell that she couldn’t keep control of the spell. She would have to give up trying to cast it, or give herself over to it, not know what that would entail. It really could have been her end, but the fates (the die roll) was on her side and giving her self over to the spell (failing the push roll) did not force her mind to expand more than she could endure.
In that moment, in that fraction of a moment she saw their hotel room in many times past and in many times future. Before London excited, and well after it was gone. She also saw many possible futures where Reggie was absent, and the friends collectively mourned (foreshadowing or just playing with my heartstrings… we’ll see). Catherine had aged 10 years (mentally) after casting the spell.
She also connected to someone… or something. Something that would visit come to visit her soon.
Research
Reggie and Catherine, trying to cover their bases went to the London Library to look up landed gentry an found some of the Lesser Edale histories that indicated that Castle Plum has been in the Vale family for generations. Sir Arthur Vale had recently become a recluse. His son Lawrence Vale was know to purchase some powerful pharmaceuticals (tranquilizers), and his daughter Eloise was also in the Castle, though we learned nothing about her. While Catherine was busy in the books Reggie got some fresh air and ran into a disheveled looking man who seemed lost. He had important information, he said. It should be shared with everyone, he said. He’d meet us tomorrow at 2PM in a cafe, he said.
Arranging Alternative Transportation
The maps showed that Misr House was on an island surrounded by swamps. There was a single turnstile bridge that granted access to the island and we didn’t want to take our changes having that be our only way on (or off) the island.
Francois, Amos, Iris, and Jimmy all headed out to find a boat shop near Misr house to go “fishing”. It was off-season but Amos played up being an American tourist and threw money at the boatkeeper so who was he to keep a traveler from their dreams.
The took the boat and scouted the area, finding a dock on the island that had another boat there as well… a very nice one. The spotted house, three stories and a bit decrepit. Clearly not a place that people lived, but visited for special occasions.
Meeting George and setting everything into motion
We met George the following day (friends, help me here, I think we also did something in the morning, leave me a comment below if you remember what it was) and he seemed lost, perhaps displaced, until he look at Catherine, then he seemed intense, as though they shared a similar connection.
What he said didn’t make sense at first but eventually we realized that he was the contact Catherine had made when she cast her spell, though he wasn’t an Observer (Yith) but he was somehow connected to them. Catherine came on too strong, asking how how to change the future (the “Grand Plan”) by making incremental changes now that would knock it off course. He was intrigued but frightened. He mentioned how sabotaging the machines could make a different, but wouldn’t say more. When pushed, whatever part of his mind that was connected to the Yith retreated and a confused George looked at all of us, wondering how the got where he was.
The conversation that sparked from this was intense. We had to go to Misr House the following day, but if the machines made that much of a difference, we need to destroy them as well. We debated our options and decided to try and cover a lot of ground in one day, following just behind the cultists after they head out for the gathering. Shafik had told us there would be an hour of initiations and cavorting before the ritual, then they would sacrifice one person to being the ritual, summon the servitor, and then it would consume the other victims. Grizly as that sounds, in order to be on time for the events, the staff at the Penhew foundation would have to leave it before the ritual and it we made use of that hour while they were carousing he might be able to destroy the machines and still make it there in time to stop Gavigan.
Raiding the Penhew Foundation
A risky plan hatched, we went to the foundation and waited until it looked like everyone had left. Jimmy waited in the car for us while we broke in through the service entrance.
In the basement we found the machines components we had originally discovered on the Ivory Wind and began placing pipe bombs as charges. We also noticed electrical cabling that went into another room that there was no door to. Some searching revealed a standing sarcophagus that opened by depressing one of the eyes carved on the front, but it open fast and smashed Catherine’s hand…her hands just can’t get a break (or in this case, they almost did!).
Inside the office Colby and Amos found hideous artwork on the wall (checks out) a desk with fake passports (for Gavigan and Aubrey Penhew), shipping manifests to Ho Fang, correspondence with Puneet Chaudhary, information about a safe especially made and shipped to the Henson Manufacturing in Derby, references to the Empire Spice Shop, and basically just confirmation of all the pieces that we had been putting together. There was also cash. lots and lots of cash. All in small bills easy to use for bribes and paying off people discreetly.
On the bookshelf Amos found several interesting if disturbing items. Several cryptic looking books, 15 scrolls, and a small jar.
We gathered what we could (including the cash) plated bombs on the rest and headed out. With long fuse list, we headed out and moments later felt the ground rumble and watch the building shake as the bombs went off below, hopefully destroying everything we left behind.
Punch it Jimmy, er Taxi driver #2!
We returned to the car, elated with our success only to find the tires were slashed and Jimmy was gone. There was blood and the signs of a fight. We all recalled that one sacrifice would be made to start the ritual and our stomachs sunk.
Quickly we found a taxi driver who had a van, made excused (that he didn’t buy) and then offered him a whole briefcase of cash (easy come, easy go) to take us to the boat we had docked. The money thankfully smoothed over many details like our panicked looks, Catherine’s injury, and the guns and ordinance that we put in his boot!
Misr House
Thankfully we were still making good time. We made it to the house and saw many cars parked out front, including a Ferris and Sons moving truck and a very nice Bentley. The doors were open so we let ourselves in (after we planted explosives in the Bently, we didn’t want to take chances).
As we explored the house Colby and Iris made their way to the roof to get setup for a shot, while the rest of us explored the lower levels. Soon we heard a car coming up the driveway. Through the windows we saw more of the Black Pharoah cultists dragging a beleaguered Jimmy with them!
We hid (in the library, the great hall, and the bathroom respectively) while the brought Jimmy in, went into the great hall, and pulled a lever that made the stone fireplace slide to the side and reveal steps below. The dragged Jimmy down with them.
Francois had hidden in the bathroom and by chance on of the cultists (all dressed in white robes) came to use the facilities. He knocked him out and took his robe.
A Moral Dilemma
At the top of the stairs we had a terrible decision to make. Fight the cultists or even just lock them in the dungeon below and we’d keep the captives (and Jimmy safe) but the others would know something was wrong and come looking for them. All we would do is delay the inevitable and give ourselves away. With a heavy heart we decided to let them go unimpeded.
Francois donned the robes from the cultist he knocked out (either out of caution, hatred, or some other dark place, Reggie killed the unconscious man) and slipped in amongst the others. We wouldn’t stop the cultists, but at least Francois could try and prevent Jimmy from being their first sacrifice… though a sacrifice would still be made.
After the left we quickly searched the area below, found a torture chamber, a dungeon the captives had been held in and two curious items: some unknown plants (too bad with didn’t have Iris with us) and a maritime chronometer (which Catherine too with her).
Preparing for the Ritual
Iris was perched on the rooftop, ready to take her shot. She could see Gavigan in black robes but with the hood pulled down and two scepters in his hand. Beside him was another figure in a red robe, their face concealed by their hood like the rest of the cultists. We guessed that might be Shafik but couldn’t know for sure.
Amos, Colby, and Reggie all snuck along the path trying to get close to the ritual so they were ready after the shot was fired. Armed with guns and grenades, they hoped to be prepared for the fifty (yes, 50) cultists that were gathered by the stele (where the sacrifices were talking place and the captives had been chained).
Francois had not choice but to join the ritual with the other cultists, but at least he was able to shuffle Jimmy out of sacrifice #1 position. Under his robes he held the jar that contained Who. His own personal grenade.
Catherine hotwired the Ferris and Sons moving truck and drove it to the top of the path with the headlights off. The back door rolled up she hoped it could help as many of her friend (and the captains) get away once everything went down.
The Moment of Truth
To our own horror we watched and waited while first Gavigan and then the other cultists bludgeoned a hostage and then finally killed her with a barb to the heart. He started summoning the servitor and we all held our breath…
Iris fired a shot and it landed true. Just as Shafik had said, his magical defenses were lowered. Gavigan fell lifeless to the ground. Instead of paralyzing the ritual, the figure in red robes picked up the scepters and continued. She pointed to the house and told her cultists to destroy the interlopers. Yep, we had been had. This was Shafik’s plan all along, but we weren’t done fighting
Descent into Chaos
Many things happened, more or less at once
- Francois the the jar containing Who to the ground and once broken, she grew and grew until she towered over everyone. With an effort of will and the small familiarity that had been built up over weeks of feeding her flies, Francois imported the terrible creature to aid us…
- Iris fired another shot at the figure in red robes, which Francois now recognized by the smell of her spice shop. Another perfect shot, except that she seemed to be employing the same magical defenses that we were warned Gavigan might have. The bullet flew towards her and then almost like our vision was being blurred and warped, the it seemed to be absorbed into her and she remained unharmed.
- Colby and and Reggie both threw grenades at the masses of cultists that were running up the path. Many were killed, more were injured, but they kept coming.
- Catherine tried to remember what she saw Jimmy do so many times… she slammed the accelerator and aimed for the cultist hitting several of them before eventually being bogged down by the rough terrain and the trampled foes.
- Who, aligned with Francois (for now) lashed out her too long tongue and wrapped it around the Red Robed cultists (Shafik), but that did not stop her.
- Shafik continued the ritual and the sky above seemed to congeal, becoming thick and porous… something was coming through!
- Francois got to freeing Jimmy from the stele and then the others.
And then the cultists caught up with us… The pulled Colby from the back of the truck and beat him into unconsciousness. The opened the door and pulled Catherine from the seat, hammering her with their clubs, and the tackled Reggie, who had earned the greatest of their ire. They surrounded him, knocked him down, and then before our eyes, bludgeoned him to death. Before his final breath Reggie looked at us, resigned and perhaps content, knowing he had done a brave thing. Then he pulled the pin from the last grenade and blew both himself and the cultists on top of him from this earth.
Shocked, horrified, heartbroken, dismayed, the battle continued, but not for long.
- Who, having grappled Shafik with her tongue, pulled Shafik into her giant vertical maw and swallowed her whole, raiment, crown (oh, I forgot, Gavigan was wearing a crown that Shafik put on after he died), scepters and all.
- Amos hoisted Colby, thankfully still alive into the back of the moving truck.
- Catherine threw the keys she had taken from the basement dungeon to Francois to free the remaining prisoners.
- Iris booked it downstiars to rejoin us.
- And when he was free Jimmy jumped in the truck and turned it around to get us all out of there.
- Who, still not satiated turned her strange horizontal eyes on all of us, examining us with an alien intelligence…and then she gobbled up the body of Edward Gavigan,
We did not stop to wonder why, we ran. And then once we were in the truck we drove away as fast as we cool. Sparking just one more grenade to try and burn down Misr House on our way out.
Reggie No More
One moment he was smiling Reggie, still trying to find his place in this world. And the next he was gone. There wasn’t even a body to bury, tough Catherine did find the stolen emerald had survived. It was stuck in a tree, but she wrenched it free before they left. She would carry something of him. The vision she saw of Reggie’s absence had become a reality.
We took Colby to a hospital to have him treated for his wounds. We returned the boat to the boat keeper. We got the captives who survived (all but the first victim) home. Then we took stock of our situation. We had prevailed but we paid a terrible price.
The only thing to do was to tell Reggie’s mother…who just so happens to be Adrienne’s backup character.
We visited the Morsley estate and after a long time of convincing Mrs. Morsley that we were telling her the truth, we explained all that Reggie meant to us and all that had happened. “Well, this just won’t do. I’m coming with you. I will avenge my son.” Pretty hard to say no to that.
Colby was moved to the Morsley private hospital where the rest of us were tended to as well. We were ready to leave London, except for one more lose end to tie up.
Henson Manufacturing
We drove up to Derby on a Sunday assuming (thankfully correctly) that the warehouse would be unoccupied. The plant had a few buildings all inside a tall brick wall.
In an empty alley, we scaled the wall and started exploring the buildings. Security seemed non existent and we quickly found the workshop where the machine parts were manufactured.
We also found the giant walk-in safe that had been commissioned by Gavigan. Catherine had done her homework and came prepared to crack it open. While she worked on the safe (it took a long time) everyone else gathered the machinery and sorted out the commons equipment like lathes from the specialized machines that would be harder to recreate.
A Treasure Trove
Inside the safe we saw its walls were lined with machine parts…not the manufacture ones…the originals!
At then end of vault was a particularly complex device that seemed to be functioning (whereas the rest were inert parts of something greater).
Inspecting them further we realized a few things:
- This was likely Yith technology from before they left.
- The machine was used to connect someone’s mind to the Yith…creating people like George.
After much discussion regarding the risk (which were incredible) and the potential reward (also incredible), Catherine elected to cast the spell to contact the Yith (which was much easier the 2nd time) and use this divine has her arcane focus, a portal to the observers. She cast the spell and then looked into the viewing lens…connecting to the initiate.
The power of the device should have overwhelmed her and invaded her mind but she was able to wrest control of the conduit and instead cast her presence through it to contact the Yith themselves.
The Yith spoke through Catherine to her (and to the other investigators). It was fascinated by our attempts to change the streams of time. It answered many questions and left Catherine with both a blessing and a curse. (I asked Sam if I could add a skill to my character sheet called precognition and he gave me the thumbs up…I can’t imagine this causing any problems at all!)
Book: The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter (this printed in 2015 but these stories go back)
